Section 7

Speaking of how humanity really works, one participant in Team A, in particular, stressed the importance of being able to have easy access to food and beverage in a collaborative, project-based learning environment:

“Social aspects, we talked about bringing food back in. Food is a central social function to creating…a collaborative environment. When you are working with groups, I think it is important to be able to bring that [food] in. It probably goes back to our Neolithic time of sitting around the fire and waiting for the next mastodon. For collaborative, project-based learning it is important to be able to bring the food to the project or be able to take the project to food. The thought behind bringing the food to the work is to bring [encourage] discussion and to be able to continue the work around food. We are social animals. Food is a catalyst.”

Summarizing the description of the “Learning Village,” Team A made the following statements:

“The definition of learning space is that there are no hard and fast rules. It is somewhat of a random process that may occur in many different ways. In this design we tore down some walls to eliminate the hierarchy of teacher to student. Teachers are more roving mentors. There will be no front of the room podiums or pulpits. The teachers facilitate learning and they are also learning in this process and in this space. It is a collective environment.

Our major goals were to design with multiple scales and multiple destinations for learning. We designed for individual spaces up to the assembly areas. The individual spaces are available for quiet work. The model may look like there are not enough traditional classrooms, but the studio/gallery areas are large classroom spaces with team teaching. The production/application labs are also used for teaching.”

Design # 2
Five participants were members of Team B, which developed Design #2. To approach the task, Team B began by creating a picture of the community and identifying people the design would serve. Their team process included: (a) developing a list of characteristics of the population to be served; (b) determining the content, skills, and services needed by the population to be served; (c) identifying all the places that the learning could occur such as, community centers, local high schools, business and industry, and on campus; and (d) identifying the features of the physical learning environment that would support the learning activities and the needs of the learners.

The next planning step the Team engaged in was for each member to choose a specific collaborative, project-based learning activity. “Our team took a collaborative approach to the design process. We started with the communities and tested our ideas for appropriateness for project-based learning. We each chose a [collaborative learning] project [and] then looked for common environmental characteristics of the five projects.” The members of Team B chose the following projects: (a) developing a service learning product from which support staff of a college receive training, (b) writing a book, (c) creating a multi-media/science curriculum module to study foothills, (d) designing a musical, kinetic water sculpture in a park, and (e) analyzing a transportation system for a city. Each project was described in more detail and included spatial and environmental needs for completing it.

The service learning project given to students at a community college provided the opportunity to design training programs for college staff. The activities the learners used to develop and deliver the training programs included “assessing staff needs, assessing training modules, developing training modules, and implementing the training” according to a participant who then described the spatial and environmental needs for the project:

“I needed a cost-effective spatial system that is flexible and has access to technology, space for communication storage, presentations, and with flexible furnishings. I need a home base, space for small groups, caves [individual spaces used to work, study, reflection, or rest], and a production space. A design where you can move in, occupy, and leave and not impact the next group using the space or needing two hours to change [the space]. “

Another participant described the next project as a Developmental English course taught by the participant in which learners were asked to write a book. The learners were instructed to begin the process of writing by keeping journals and using that information as the base for the book. As explained by the participant, “The students need quiet space to work on the journal, access to books to be used as models, a place to write the book, availability of the instructor and peers for editing and comment, and at the same time a place to receive instruction.” For the project, the participant described the spatial and environmental needs:

“I want a home base, and a classroom where you begin the learning process. I want accessibility to computer labs, to the commons, to caves, and access to the outside. I want storage for equipment and I want windows. They have to be realistic spaces.”

The third team member’s project was for learners to prepare a multi-media presentation on how the foothills of a mountain range were formed as an example of an integrated curricular approach that included science, art, music, and graphic design. The participant described the spatial and environmental needs to deliver the learning project.

“I need lots of windows that open because rooms with lots of computers generate heat and it is nice to bring fresh air into the room while keeping the room cool. I need computer spaces with good chairs because the students will be sitting in those chairs for a long time. I need science and art areas right next door. It could be a messy room right next to the digital technical area. The art area needs to have moveable furniture, especially portable tables. It is the notion of specialized spaces or studios for “dirty” (fabrication) projects and specialized spaces for technical projects. I would also like to see access to the outdoors where there would be a walking trail, a rock garden with stones…places for students to get away to think and relax. “

Another participant described her/his learning project as a musical, kinetic water sculpture for Central Park as, “An opportunity to involve the community to create
something for itself. The project brings art, music, math, engineering, and dance together.” The participant described the spatial and environmental needs to deliver the project:

“A series of spaces for integrated, collaborative learning that solves math and movement problems. I need collaboration space for the “birth of concepts.” This birth space needs natural light, moveable surfaces, space for small groups ranging in size from three to six up to a space for 12 to 15 people, white boards and tack walls to display concepts, access to technology, and access to nourishment. I need a space for design work and another space for fabrication. Movement of process needs to happen between all these spaces.”

The fifth team member’s learning project was to analyze City X for the development of a transportation system. “To do the project, the students would tour the city on bicycles to gather information for field notes, go to the historical museums to do research and to do some mapping, conduct videotaped interviews, prepare graphic presentations to show the historical change and to predict future needs.” The spatial and environmental needs were described by the participant in terms of pods, studios, and a shared living room that could also be a home base. There were also adjacent studios for video production of interviews; a small group discussion space that could hold up to 40 people; a fabrication studio to create a clay, scale model; parking for bicycles; and access to food. “They need to ‘own’ this space for at least the semester.”

“I have pods that serve as a home base for each team of four and then there is a shared living room that can also be a home base for all the teams. The shared home base has places to pin-up work to show during discussions and presentations and this space also serves as a lounge. Each pod contains individual workstations with access to the Internet, a “team” table, shared secure storage, indirect lighting and a light table. The five pods and shared living room make up the main studio.”

Looking across all five learning projects, Team B looked for the common spaces and activities among the projects, which were described as: (a) bringing people back together, (b) dirty work space/loud area, (c) access to information, (d) home base space, (e) access to tools and materials, (f) caves/quiet spaces, and (g) community interaction [bringing the community in to the learning environment and taking the learning out to the community].

Using the information from the projects and from the previous work of determining the needs of the community and those to be served, the Team developed a final design. They labeled the spaces within the physical learning environment as such: (a) home base, which can also be used as a classroom, (b) computer lab, (c) caves, (d) staff nodes, and (e) a series of laboratory suites. The desirable features of each of those spaces are listed below:

1. Home Base. For the home base, which served the purposes of group instruction, discussion, and “checking in,” the design features included: (a) comfortable seating and moveable desks and chairs, (b) windows, (c) blackboard/whiteboard, (e) storage, (f) freedom of movement, and (g) close proximity to caves and computer lab.
2. Collaboration Incubator. The collaboration incubator was designed for five teams of five learners to work collaboratively and fairly independently on their projects with the teacher or faculty member being more of a mentor or guide as the format for instruction. The team spaces had individual desks or workspaces for the learners, storage, and a round table. In addition to the team spaces, the incubator had a large, open space in which to work on the projects and to share with community partners who were involved in the project. The incubator was “where there can be a sense of ownership for a period of time. A space of my own but also a shared space.”
3. Computer Lab. The computer lab included: (a) computers set up in pods of four, (b) work surfaces [tables], (c) storage, (d) printer station, and (e) late night accessibility.
4. Caves. The caves provided: (a) space for individuals, (b) proximity to the home base, and (c) [were located at] various locations and presentations [different designs of the spaces].
5. Staff Nodes. The staff nodes, with access to technology, were used for planning and communication among the faculty.
6. Series of Laboratory Suites. The series of laboratory suites accommodated: (a) technology labs that required high technology systems and infrastructure in a clean environment, (b) fabrication labs for wet and messy projects that required specialized equipment and infrastructure, and (c) combined labs with easy access to both the technology and fabrication in the same space.

“The laboratory suites were spaces that supported the students [while they] generated work [the project]. They began in the technology lab with the instructor and then the students decided when to move from their pods and into the larger incubator area.

Technology laboratories have a natural integration of projects around a particular purpose, are authentic, and that are chosen by students. The separate fabrication laboratories really get to fabrication with high systems and high infrastructure needs and then move the projects to different spaces. The Team designed a physical learning environment that actively encouraged and supported the communities it served by making them active partners in the learning process.

The design (Figure 4.) focused on bringing the community in and out of the projects in a collaborative way through the design of a “main street” that provided freedom of movement and access to all the spaces. The spaces along the “main street” were a commons area, small group/large group spaces, staff nodes, technical laboratories, fabrication laboratories, presentation auditoria, caves, a flexible home base, and a collaboration incubator. “

In recognizing the need to prepare the learners to work collaboratively in teams, a participant described the flow of learning activities in collaborative, project-based processes:

“You can’t drop a student into a 100 percent collaborative effort. They start in the home base and set group goals. Once their skill base increases in working collaboratively and they are ready for more complex work, then they can move into the incubator. The incubator has flexible walls and students define their own spaces.

We are not talking about all of this for all of the students. It does provide territory for a space of time and can be easily adapted [for the purposes of the study I would interpret this to mean flexible]. There can be music, science, and art in one area [pod] or business partnerships in another area. It needs to be very adaptable [flexible] and provide for the student to community, community to business, and business to student linkages. The idea of a collaboration incubator is new territory for community colleges. The incubator is used with community partners. When balanced with a home base, it is more the norm of today. For community college students, it is important to create connections and linkages. It is easy to lose the magic of belonging. “

Figure 4. Design # 2

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